ZF Shoplift (SZF) V1C

[Heili]

It's One Way to Kill Time

*Shoplift requires SZF 4.1.2 or newer to run multi-stage maps.

Scavenge through to the heart of an abandoned mall where rumors of the military's last evac site is said to be.
Take everything you can to outlast 3 MASSIVE stages: The Garage, The Hypermarket, and The Helicopter.

Super Zombie Fortress!
No more running from the zombies, you're taking the fight to them in this new SZF mode.

Features:

• Terrifying midnight!
  
• New Scavenge objective for stage 2!
• Car alarms, gauntlets, fuel barrels, and graffiti just like Left 4 Dead!
  
• Scary custom soundscapes!
  
• New NPC interaction and new animations for rescue!

szf_shoplift_v1c
NOT compatible with Zombie Fortress (due to Scavenge)

Currently hosted on Redsun and DISC FF
Red Sun (SZF) US-C IP: 74.91.113.8:27015
Red Sun (Gamemode Madness) EU IP: 95.172.92.5:27015
Red Sun (Gamemode Madness) US IP: 192.223.24.11:27015
DISC FF US IP: 74.91.119.154:27017

Linktree (my links)
Ko-fi (support me)
Gamebanana mirror
Tactical Map Overview

Spoiler

Thank you to these UGC authors:
Freyja & E-Arkham - Japan Content
E-Arkham - Snowycoast gas can & Antiquity Assets
Fuzzymellow - City & Jungle Textures
TF2 Pacific Team - Pacific Content
TF2 Frontline! Team - Frontline! Content
TF2 Construction Team - Construction Content
TF2 Swamp Team - Swamp Content
TF2 Maritime Team - Maritime Content
TF2 Bulletcrops Team - Bulletcrops Content
Crash & Pear - Overgrown Assets
Urban, Uncuepa - Food ads
Berry - Autumnal Pack
AlexCookie - Timer Door Textures
Dr.Face - Slender Arctic Assets
Timberghost - Arctic & Precipice Assets
Pocket - Timberghost's smooth wood floor edits
Evil Knevil, NassimO, DeRoseJ, evilfoxnl14 - Vehicle Props
Boomsta - Neon Alphabet Signs
BANG - Watergate Dumpster
Apom - Rotating Air Intake
Treythepunkkid - Morrigan Alley Assets
Krazy - Ghastlane Textures & Vehicle Props
Bakscratch - Santorini Assets
Ravidge - Handrail Edits
AsG_Alligator - Conifer Assets
Midlou - Frontline! Tank Prefab
FGD5 - Vehicle props
DioJoestar - Hologram Capture Point prop

 

[Heili]

This thread serves as an open journal on my development porting Shoplift from Zombie Escape to Super Zombie Fortress. I want to present my thoughts concisely explaining my thought process and reasoning for the map and gamemode porting.

Shoplift originally was a Zombie Escape (ZE) exclusive, a new at the time mode for TF2 where the goal is to run in panic from player-controlled zombies. I made it with the intention to port to the more established SZF mod if it wasn’t received well, thus expanding the use of the map. I’ve grown a lot since the original release in 2019, and working with Left 4 Dead 2’s SDK has taught me how to preserve map geometry, lighting, props, and so on between multiple gamemodes.

I’ve already practiced this method in SZF Black Lagoon before tackling a larger map like Shoplift. I’ve also invested in a drawing tablet to remake the graffiti I drew with my mouse in the ZE version. Without a tablet, you’re better off typing graffiti out with a marker font (Dead Island is a good example of a game that did this). This graffiti also taught me basic digital art skills.

I drew at a 4096x4096 resolution on my favorite app, MediBang Pro, and downscaled the textures to a 512x512 resolution. I struggled understanding scale and what my output would look like, and some textures didn’t match the size I wanted them to be because of this. There’s also few examples of TF2 handwriting. I would of liked to make the scribbles look more like a paintbrush with ink dripping off them, and yet from the Gun Mettle comic, TF2 penmanship seems not much different than real life to be negligible.

The graffiti themselves I felt were more appropriate to a multi-stage map than a single stage map due to breaks between stages, safehouses. However, these were also strong story-telling points much like in Left 4 Dead, and safehouses are perfect spots to stop and read uninterrupted.

For gamemode porting itself, I relied on instances. One main instance for shared content (geometry, props, lights), and a separate gamemode instance I can paste special in between and have new additions be exactly in place in the other gamemode. This also serves to remove geometry to be gamemode specific without effecting portals.

In conclusion, I treated Shoplift much like a Left 4 Dead 2 map, and think multi stage helps create this feeling in a compact 3 stage map. Although most work was done already with ZE, I found Hammer to be more about gameplay engineering in my time porting rather than a map editor. It brought my attention to the game development process by creating soundscapes, textures, and even coding talking with the RedSun people to support multi stage in their Super Zombie Fortress plugin.

 

[Heili]

SZF Shoplift V1A

- fixed weapon spawns not being converted by the SZF mod after Stage 1
- fixed perch point above Saferoom 1 door
- fixed reflections not being sewn
- fixed funky looking reflection at the cafe floor
- removed holograms to reduce file size
- removed a particle effect to reduce file size
- fixed Administrator not calling out Tanks on first appearance
- fixed S1 pre safehouse door looping sound strangely

 

[Heili]

V1B hotfix

Another reminder that you must have the latest 4.1.2 SZF version to run Shoplift or any other multi stage map, older versions are most likely to crash your server.

- fixed infected ramps not being included in map
- fixed S1 Garden infected exit being solid during S1 instead of S2
- fixed a fog volume not being included in map
- fixed the Hypermarket gate sound looping

 

[Heili]

SZF Shoplift V1C

- Fixed S1 Gauntlet not ending after S1A capture
- Removed S2A glass before escalators and added a rare weapon spawn nearby
- Added a fog volume check at S1 start
- Added an extra scavenge tutorial for the Reactor deposit zone
- Heavily reduced explosive barrel damage to better fit SZF instead of ZE
- Equalized chances for S1 Elevator infected spawns
- Moved S2 escalator explosive barrel to center of escalators
- Clipped S1 Elevator room doors
- Minor perf improvements
- Fixed SZF Director scale not resetting on a new stage
- Minor lighting changes